Ingo Eduard Isphording

Peer value added

In a recent paper, Ingo Isphording and Ulf Zölitz describe the concept of peer value-added that enables them to estimate the comprehensive spill-over of a single specific peer on surrounding peers or co-workers. Bringing this concept to the data of randomly assigned peer groups in a Dutch business school, the authors show that peers differ significantly in their ability to bring out the best in others. This peer value-added cannot be predicted by observables but is in itself highly predicted for out-of-sample performance of newly assigned peers. Peer value-added acts as a substitute for teacher efficiency in the study’s setting.

Mr. Isphording’s main research interests are in education and labor economics, with special emphasis on the role of social interactions and comparisons in determining performance and labor market outcomes. Past work dealt extensively with the language acquisition of immigrants and the role of language skills in the labor market.

During his research stay at CESifo, Mr. Isphording will pursue his current research agenda that focuses on advancing empirical approaches to determine the extent of peer effects in educational production and the workplace on performance and beliefs about own ability.

Ingo Isphording is currently is a Senior Research Associate at IZA in Bonn and heads the research team “Skill Formation”. In addition, he is a deputy coordinator for IZA’s program area “Economics of Education”. Mr. Isphording holds a PhD in Economics from Ruhr University Bochum, an MA in Economics from the University of Duisburg-Essen and a BA in Economics and Social Psychology from Ruhr University Bochum.